An adventure in rabid videotape collecting, television history, and whatever else I feel like babbling about…

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Time for a sequel post! And not just a post about a sequel, but a post that’s in and of itself a sequel to a previous post. And it’s all the more fitting because the sequel this post is about is the sequel to the prequel that the prequel post was about!

There, wrap your mind around that introduction!

Surely you will recall back in August when I talked about an airing of First Blood as shown by Big Chuck & Lil’ John on May 11, 2001. What? You don’t?! That hurts me deep, but here it is. For a character I had grown up basically knowing of, that was my first time actually watching a Rambo film. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting at first, but before the broadcast ended that Friday night, I had become a fan. The following morning, I was determined to pick up the remastered VHS trilogy set that was then-available.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason (almost certainly due to lack of money on my part – as usual), I didn’t get the set, and thus I didn’t see the sequels as soon as I would have preferred. Add in all the other responsibilities and interests of a teenager, and ultimately, I wouldn’t see First Blood‘s sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, until very nearly two years later, when I taped it off WJW TV-8’s late movie showing. I have no concrete date for the broadcast, but it was the spring of 2003 (late April or early May is the closest I can deduce), but naturally it’s that very recording we’re looking at today.

In the late-1990s and early-2000s, I had made a semi-habit of staying up late on weekend nights and catching a new-to-me movie on some local channel. More often than not, this was an action film, and it was through this method that I was introduced to flicks I almost certainly wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise. Army of One and One Man’s Justice come to mind. (Which is why I was far too excited to find the latter on DVD for cheap at Value City a few years later!) My love of action films, especially 1980s action films, was fostered via these late night airings, and it was through them that I eventually found myself staying up late to watch First Blood, and ultimately, First Blood Part II.

In retrospect, the broadcast we’re looking at today was from the tail-end of not only this habit of mine, but also of even being able to catch movies on local channels late on weekend nights in general. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen anymore, because it does (our WBNX TV-55 regularly runs movies in the late hours of the weekend), but by and large late night television is a wasteland of syndicated programming and infomercials now. And besides, the way we as a television-viewing audience watch movies nowadays has changed so drastically in the 14 years since that, even if I personally don’t go for the streaming thing, the very thought of a late night movie on television just doesn’t hold the same charm of discovery as it once did. This both saddens me and makes me all the fonder for the recordings I had the foresight to make back then.

Truth be told, I can’t recall if I actually stayed up late to watch this broadcast as it taped, or if I merely watched it soon thereafter, but the sentiment is ultimately the same. And boy does this one take me back. Even that bumper up above, complete with the immortal Bill Ward‘s voiceover, is a cause for nostalgia. Now granted, I wouldn’t be surprised if those same background graphics were used for Fox affiliates all across the country, and I don’t know when they were first utilized or when they were dropped, but they were present for at least a few years afterwards (I have a recording of Miracle Mile from 2006 that uses them), but I love ’em. They’re simple, sure; just that bluish color-scheme, spinning film reel, station I.D., and voiceover, but they work. By 2003, I’m not sure you could ask for all that much more, anyway. The same image was used as the intro to this broadcast, as well as for the commercial-break bumpers. Update your diaries accordingly.

(You’ll note that my title notates this as WJW’s “late movie,” but the bumper mentions nothing of the sort. Yes, this was well past the “8 All Night” days and associated pomp and circumstance. This was a late airing, however; I don’t recall an exact time, 1 AM, 2 AM, something like that.)

I know there won’t be as much vested interest in this post as there was in my First Blood article; Big Chuck & Lil’ John naturally attract local readership. Even beyond that, I know some will look at this and probably think “A 2003 airing of Rambo II? Who cares?” The thing to remember there is that this is a personal blog, and what it comes down to is that it’s all about what makes me, well, me. I mean, yes, the ultimate goal here is to educate readers on an obscure late night television broadcast that would almost-certainly be forgotten otherwise, but as always, a subject has to trip my trigger first. So, maybe this will strike a chord with certain readers, and maybe it won’t, but I’d rather share my memories and have this review out there than, uh, not.

Besides, just because Big Chuck & Lil’ John aren’t hosting this, that doesn’t mean they won’t show up in some form during it. What do I mean by that? Read on!

Actually, had I been paying more attention, there probably was a Chuck & John showing of this film around the same period; as you’d expect, WJW would get these film packages, and show the same movie in different slots over a relatively short period of time. For example, I taped Iron Eagle II off The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show (a recording I still have!), a Friday night broadcast, and not long after, maybe even that following Sunday, the movie by itself ran again, in an afternoon slot. (I remember holding a yard sale and having it on to show that a TV I was desperately trying to shill did indeed work, which wasn’t all that successful in the bright sun, but whatever.) The aforementioned Miracle Mile was also aired this way, and it was how I first discovered the movie. Unfortunately, I didn’t tape it, and it didn’t run again until ’06, when I did tape it, in a non-Chuck & John showing. Meh, que sera sera and all that.

So anyway, 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II. If you go back and read my First Blood post, you’ll note that this sequel is more along the lines of the movie I expected to see the first time around. Indeed, when people picture Rambo and his exploits, the plot of this film is probably what first comes to mind. And why wouldn’t it? The movie was a massive hit, it’s still fantastic, and it’s easily one of the defining action films of the 1980s. I mean, this movie is 1985. This is the film that truly drove the Rambo, one-man-against-an-army image into the public consciousness, as evidenced by the wave of merchandise it spawned (including a fantastic Sega Master System game and an odd, Zelda II-esque Nintendo Entertainment System game).

Of course I loved the film right from the start. If you’d ask me to put together a top 10 list of my favorite action films, First Blood Part II would easily, easily make the cut. But then, so would First Blood and Rambo III, too. (and Schwarzenegger’s Commando, while we’re at it.) Maybe a year or so after I taped this, we finally upgraded to DVD, and near as I can recall, Rambo: First Blood Part II was the first film I bought for myself in the format (unless you count the restored Metropolis, which Kino sent me on DVD despite my ordering it on VHS, which I don’t). For me, that’s pretty telling. I love this movie.

That’s the title screen up above, by the way. When you see a fire-filled “Rambo,” pop on-screen, you know you’re in for a ride. That Fox 8 logo in the bottom right corner totally takes me back, too.

(And yes, there is a Big Chuck & Lil’ John airing of this very movie floating around trade circles, though I don’t concern myself with such 2nd gen or more shenanigans, and thus it is presently barred from me. Meh, que sera sera and all that.)

Caution! Some spoilers for a nearly-32-year-old movie are ahead! 32 years?! Yep, First Blood Part II was released on May 22, 1985 – pretty darn close to a straight 18 years the night this aired. I find it interesting that the film was less than 20 years old when I first saw it, but is now over 30. I’m not sure why I find that interesting, but I do. I think it has to do with the quick passage of time and me being quite a bit older now. Well, now I’m depressed!

Part II isn’t really a direct sequel, but does pick up in the aftermath of the events that transpired by the end of First Blood. In that one, remember how John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, of course!) had pretty much destroyed an entire town, totally outwitted the local police force, and whose life was saved only when his former-commanding officer Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna!) told him to cut it out? (I’m trying not to divulge too much of First Blood, for the 2.6 of you that haven’t seen it yet.) Well, Part II picks up some time after all that; Rambo is serving his sentence, performing back-breaking hard labor, when Trautman shows up at the prison with an offer (above): It’s rumored that some POWs are still left in Vietnam, and a special team is being assembled to go in and get them – if they are indeed still there. Rambo is the best candidate, and with the opportunity to get out of a prison for the time being, as well as a full presidential pardon dangled in front of him, not to mention him being a former-POW himself, of course he accepts.

I like this; less than 5 minutes in, the title hasn’t even appeared on-screen yet, and the movie is already off and running. In short order, Rambo finds himself in the presence of one Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier, who fills the roll of you-just-know-he’s-a-jerk-from-the-start that Brian Dennehy so-ably occupied in the previous film). Rambo’s mission? To head back into Vietnam, and take pictures of a Vietcong camp. Seriously, just take pictures? Rambo expresses his concern over this, but he is again ordered to only take pictures – he is not to engage the enemy. If evidence is found of POWs, a full-fledged rescue team will head in and get ’em. Rambo goes along with this.

Welp, Rambo parachutes in, and yes, there are indeed POWs still there. Despite Murdock’s orders, Rambo has to rescue one, and thus, engage the enemy. This causes Murdock to show his true colors when Rambo meets the extraction site. He and the POW are then (re)captured, and must (re)escape the Vietcong, who it turns out are being supplied by the Russian military (1985, the Cold War and all).

“Murdock, I’m coming to get you!” If you’re not fully rooting for the ‘Bo by the time he utters that line, well then I just don’t know.

(Also, now is as good a time as any to point out that, as you may surmise from the diagonal rainbow “stripes” overlayed in my screencaps, we were using an antenna of the rabbit ears variety at the time, with the resulting reception naturally captured on my tape – a malady that was only exacerbated by my choice of an SLP recording speed. This all looks far uglier as still screen captures than it does in motion, but nevertheless, my tape ain’t Criterion quality.)

Rambo: First Blood Part II is pretty much a non-stop stream of testosterone. Above left: Blowin’ stuff up with ‘splosive arrows. Above right: Shooting anything and everything in sight (and looking uncannily close to that Rambo action figure they released in the 1980s – or vice versa, rather). Audience manipulation? Well of course it is! It’s pretty much impossible to not cheer Rambo on as he dismantles the enemy camp while long-imprisoned POWs celebrate – that may be the very definition of audience manipulation!

But don’t think this is just a mindless celebration of violence, though; many of the same themes present in First Blood are on display here, but almost from an opposite viewpoint and with an added wrinkle of redemption and hope – the undertones aren’t quite as dark and somber as they were in First Blood. Okay, sure, this is all seen through the “popcorn action movie” lens, I know, and that tends to tone the message of the film down considerably. Well, except when the flick is beating you over the head with it, as in Rambo’s final speech – which I love nevertheless.

Maybe that’s why Rambo: First Blood Part II was a huge hit commercially, but the critics didn’t particularly like it. To that, I say “man, forget that noise.” First Blood may have been more successful at presenting the plight of the Vietnam vet while also remaining an engrossing action film, whereas Part II is, for lack of a better description, more of a “straight-ahead” film, but with some “rah rah” overtones. Except, that’s not quite fair to the movie; it’s deceptively smarter than that (sort of like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”). Yes, Rambo loves his country and is prepared to die for it, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t criticisms of a confusing war – it’s just that the film pulls them off without throwing the soldiers that fought in it under the bus. There’s courage and heroism on display here, both from Rambo and the rescued POWs. As someone who has the utmost respect for any of our veterans, this all strikes a chord with me.

Or maybe the critics just didn’t like the film based on the usual suspects of plot, writing, whatever. I haven’t really gone and checked any of the old reviews online in-depth, because my opinion of a film is the only one I care about. So for all I know, I may be totally full of it right now.

And on that note (ha!), you know what? To me, this is just such a good, solid action movie. No kidding, right here we basically have the archetype for the one-man-army action film. Yes, Missing in Action did the same basic plot in 1984, but it didn’t do it nearly as well, nor as popularly. For all intents and purposes, this type of action movie, which has come to define a good chunk of 1980s mainstream cinema, begins right here. (Furthermore, while I like Chuck Norris’ James Braddock, Rambo is a far more compelling character; the psychological scars he carries with him truly give an added resonance to the proceedings – even though Braddock was also a former POW. But, I digress.)

So, getting back to this broadcast as a whole, was there anything that, in retrospect, makes this 2003 airing significantly unique? Kinda. There’s the usual suspects of the editing for television (sometimes egregiously so; very obvious fade-outs and fade-ins, for example), and this aired at a time when TV broadcasts, particularly local broadcasts, could still look markedly inferior to official home video releases. Even with my SLP recording speed and rabbit ears making things difficult, this is still clearly an older, un-remastered television print of the film; not really bad, but sorta drab looking, and almost certainly a step below any official VHS edition of the film. Or maybe it was just my reception, I don’t know.

Look, if you haven’t seen this film (yeah, sure, uh huh), just go buy your own copy. If nothing else, it’ll certainly look nicer.

You know, the fact that this is from 2003, and thus still fairly ‘new’ in my eyes (nearly 14 years new, ha!), and not being that unique in terms of film-content, aside from TV-editing, it all had me questioning whether I wanted to get a post out of this. As I said near the start of this piece, there would probably be inherently less interest in this, especially without a unique factor such as Big Chuck & Lil’ John hosting it. But then I remembered this is about my nostalgia; what gets my memories fired up.

And on that front, there are the original commercials. It’s funny, there’s stuff during this broadcast that, for the most part, I probably haven’t thought of since the early-2000s, and yet when they came up on-screen, it was like they just aired yesterday to me. Here now are some of my favorite ads found during this late night broadcast of Rambo: First Blood Part II…

Affordable Jewelry Coins & Loans Ad

This is fantastic. Pawn shop/jewelry/etc. ads were all over this broadcast, as you’d expect of late night TV. This was my favorite of the bunch though, simply because it exemplifies local advertising in the wee hours of the day; you can’t not love it!

Here, a Sinatra-ish lounge singer performs “My Kind of Store” in regards to Affordable, complete with back-up singers, all while the screen flashes over their various wares and a voiceover gives their buy-sell-pawn pitch. The spot finishes with a little kid (in the bottom-left in the right screenshot above) exclaiming “It’s so affordable!” This is the kind of advertising that exemplifies local TV.

Affordable Jewelry Coins & Loans is still in business, too! Looks like the ad did its job!

WJW Dharma & Greg Promo

Remember Dharma & Greg? I’m not sure any channel plays it anymore, and It was never a show I cared much for, but it was one of the hallmarks of ABC’s late-1990s & early-2000s sitcom powerhouse line-up, a line-up that included Spin City, The Norm Show, and of course The Drew Carey Show. So, even though Dharma & Greg never did a lot for me, it still ranks a bit on the nostalgia meter. The premise of the show was the Dharma was a free-spirit, Greg was uptight, and they both married on their first date. At least, that’s how I recall it. It ran for, I think, a respectable six seasons, so apparently more people cared for it than I did. I could Wikipedia the show, but I refuse.

Anyway, WJW became the repository for local reruns when the series entered syndication, and as you can see above, it garnered the weeknights at 7 PM slot. Bill Ward’s voiceover: “Hot comedy with Dharma & Greg! Weeknights at 7 on Fox 8!” For years, that 7 PM to 8 PM block was a cornucopia of comedy on WJW, naturally spearheaded by The Drew Carey Show, and for a time 3rd Rock From the Sun was also a big part of it. Good memories!

Norton Furniture Ad

Ah ha! A Norton Furniture ad! Now we’re talkin’ some legit Northeast Ohio advertising! Heck, these commercials even went beyond our area, and into the national spotlight! Read on…

There were others ads for the store, even during this broadcast, but the best known were the ones featuring owner Marc Brown, who you’re seeing above. My favorites were those featuring The Ghoul, for obvious reasons, but there was a long, long line of offbeat, sometimes even surreal, commercials. Marc spoke in a quiet, almost halting manner, proclaiming if you can’t get credit there, you can’t get it anywhere. And then the ads would turn strange. The Ghoul ones, for instance, would have The Ghoul popping up and chasing Marc, trying to cut off his pony tail. In another, Marc would turn to a mannequin and ask it a question, apropos of nothing whatsoever. Look, Norton Furniture actually has a bunch of these up on Youtube, so just go see for yourself.

Anyway, this all attracted the attention of national comics, and eventually these ads were being featured on late night shows as joke fodder. I even seem to recall The Soup (which I avidly watched for a time) taking a crack at it. The Norton Furniture ads became well known enough that Taco Bell used one as a basis for one of their commercials – during the Super Bowl. Wikipedia (yes, there’s a Norton Furniture page) says this was only a regional Super Bowl commercial, but nevertheless, I flipped out when I first saw it!

So, the installment found here, this one is actually one of the milder entries, though still kinda out there in a hazy, late night kinda way. In it, Marc gives a lecture to an unseen group of people about the features and benefits of Norton Furniture. Unfortunately, no surreal occurrence in this one, besides some canned applause by the “audience” at the end. Interestingly, this is a minute-long spot; usually they were the standard 30 seconds.

While not one of the wackier Norton Furniture ads, its presence here is still most definitely welcome. And, Norton Furniture is still around! Check out their website!

TeleMaxx Communications Ad

I’m including this one mainly because it shows just how wildly the cellphone world has changed in the nearly 14 years since this aired.

TeleMaxx was, as you may surmise, a spot for all your wireless needs. As you can see to the left above, the ad features cutting-edge cellphone technology – of the early-2000s. It’s wild how far these things have come in such a relatively short amount of time. Nowadays, we have phones that’ll make you a sandwich if you ask them nice enough, but the ones seen here? They were somewhat bulky things that did little more than make phone calls (go figure!) and maybe, maybe play rudimentary games of bowling and/or solitaire.

And above, to the right! Pagers! Pagers!! Do they even make pagers anymore? The rise of the cellphone pretty much made them obsolete, which means it’s really a trip back in time seeing them spotlighted in this ad. A steal at only $29!

Unfortunately, it looks like TeleMaxx closed up shop some time ago; such is the price of working with transitory products such as these, I suppose.

Big Chuck & Lil’ John For Pizza Pan Ad

I saved the best for last, and boy is this one phenomenal! Not only because it’s an ad featuring Big Chuck & Lil’ John as spokesmen, though of course that’s the, as I like to say, “cool winnins factor.” But also because, man, it just takes me right back to 2003.

The gimmick of Pizza Pan was this: Order a pizza and have it delivered, you got another pizza free. Order a pizza and pick it up yourself, you got two extra pizzas free! Obviously deals like that are gonna attract some attention, and in short order, Pizza Pan had made a pretty big local name for itself. It seemed there were locations all over, and we patronized the one near us pretty often, because hey, three pizzas for the price of one! This was all bolstered by some pretty heavy advertising, including Big Chuck & Lil’ John, who pitched the chain for a number of years.

Indeed, we’ve already seen Big Chuck & Lil’ John do their Pizza Pan shtick on a larger scale; remember the Big Chuck & Lil’ John Pre-Game Show post? Check it out, because Pizza Pan was all over that one.

Unfortunately, by the mid-2000s or so, Pizza Pan seemed to just sort of fade away. My memories are vague, but I seem to recall them ending the whole free pizza offer, which of course was what their name was built on. I believe it was later brought back in some form, though it might have only been a single free pizza no matter whether it was delivered or picked up. I can’t say for sure, because by that time, the one near us had closed. Anyone wanna give the details in the comments?

But back in 2003, that was when Pizza Pan was still reigning supreme. (Get it? Supreme? Because it’s pizza! Aw never mind.) Here, this commercial summarizes the whole deal succinctly. In it, Chuck explains to John the buy one pizza, get one or two pizzas free gimmick, before telling the staff to pick up the pace because they’re so busy (which is a cue to comically speed up the video as pizzas being assembled are shown). It’s a simple ad, sure, but it got the point across, it had Chuck & John’s endorsement, and it spotlights one of the most memorable aspects of Northeast Ohio pizza-eatin’ in the early 2000s. AND it has a Bill Ward voiceover at the end!

It seems there are still a few Pizza Pans left; here’s the official website, though no matter what link you click, the only page you get is a list of store locations. (A Cleveland store gets a different, full-fledged website; I’m guessing that’s the original, or at least most popular, location?)

And so, some two years after I became a full-fledged Rambo fan, this recording was how I continued the fandom. A little late on all fronts, I know, but hey, it’s always better late than never!

As I said before, when I finally jumped into DVDs a year or so later, this movie was the first I went out and purchased. Indeed, the other two Rambo entries were also among my first purchases on the format, as well. Obviously, I held (and hold!) the series in a severely high regard.

When it comes to what I taped before all that though, this particular recording actually became a bit lost in the shuffle. My earlier First Blood recording had Big Chuck & Lil’ John hosting it, but this one had no such extras (besides that cool Pizza Pan commercial). As such, I watched it, I loved it, but I never did much with it again. Not until 2011 or so, anyway. That’s when I began really getting into the nostalgia of all the stuff I had taped years prior, even the comparatively newer stuff such as our subject today.

But, I was always glad I taped this, because it’s Rambo, and I loved the film. Even though my official DVD ‘replaced’ my TV recording relatively soon thereafter, I was, and am, still pleased that I kept this recording. This was what introduced me to First Blood Part II, man! And what’s more, it turned out to be a very solid example of Cleveland late nights in the early-2000s, when I loved discovering new-to-me movies. As such, I will happily deem this one a “winner.”

I recorded this one myself, way back on May 11, 2001. 15 years?! I refuse to believe it’s been that long!

Speaking of 15 years, that’s exactly how old I was at the time (wow, I think I just gave myself record-setting depression!). During that period, I was still the avid video taper and movie/TV fan that I had been for the several years preceding, but as I got a bit older, I found myself steadily branching out from the genres that had traditionally been ‘mine.’

That is, the classic horror and sci-fi films, b-westerns, silents, and so on. (A lot of the stuff we’ve seen here at the blog, basically.) Oh I still liked all those, but my tastes were evolving to include newer, relatively more extreme horror and sci-fi, and even action films. The taste for horror and sci-fi beyond the 1960s or so would eventually recede, but the love of action flicks (especially those from the 1980s and early-1990s) remains.

Which brings us to the subject for today. Yes, Northeast Ohio movie-hostin’ heroes Big Chuck & Lil’ John once ran the 1982 Sylvester Stallone action classic First Blood, and yes, it was fantastic. “Wait, ain’t they horror hosts though, B?” Well, yes, Chuck & John (and before John, Hoolihan) made their name on film offerings more befitting the horror host genre (though not necessarily always). By the time this episode aired, the film selections had turned into a more all-around assortment. I’ll explain more about that situation in a bit.

Frankly, it didn’t (and doesn’t) really matter to me whether the movie used that night in May 2001 fit in with what the show was supposed to feature or not; this was a viewing, and recording, born out of my fairly new love of action flicks and a joy in discovering them for myself on late night TV. Discovering Rambo? In 2001? I’ll explain more about that situation in a bit, too.

I certainly didn’t realize it at the time, or even in the years immediately proceeding it, but of the hundreds and hundreds of movies I personally recorded from, roughly, 1996-2002, this has turned out to be one of my favorites. Aside from some intense nostalgia on my part, it’s not linked to any actually important aspect of my life, nor is it a particularly historical broadcast in and of itself. Nope, I just really, really like this one as a whole. Does it take me right back to Friday nights in Spring 2001? You better believe it does!

(Also, that header pic above? That was the bumper for the episode, an image that now currently resides as the background on my phone. A superfluous-but-rare honor!)

A general widening of my film tastes wasn’t the only thing going on with me, TV-wise, at the time, either; it was also around that point that I truly began to enjoy and appreciate Big Chuck & Lil’ John as a whole, rather than just a showcase for certain movies I wanted to see/tape. That may be anathema to admit, and I certainly don’t like admitting it, but the sad fact of the matter is it took me a few years to really ‘get’ these guys.

Now, that may be a surprising statement to some; after all, Chuck & John have had no small influence on this blog, and indeed, I’m a self-professed mega-fan. Besides the annual Ghoulardifest posts, I’ve written about them numeroustimes. But back in 2001, even though I had watched (and taped!) their show(s) prior, it wasn’t until, roughly, the 1999-2001 time frame that I truly became a fan. Prior to that, it was all about the movie with me, as evidenced by the fact that I usually cut the intros and outros off when recording, opting instead for just the movie (whatever bits showed up during commercial breaks were of course left in, and in retrospect I’m glad they’re still there, but back then, they were merely an extra-addition to the film in my eyes). This was all in stark contrast to The Ghoul Show and The Son of Ghoul Show, which were kept in their entirety, as I saw them as “complete shows,” and not just mere movie showcases.

That eventually all changed however, due to a few factors. Once I began watching, really watching, Chuck & John, I began to appreciate their comedic bits and host segments (my learning more about the history of the show, and Chuck’s involvement in Northeast Ohio TV in general, was also a factor). Plus, WBNX TV-55 moving The Ghoul Show from Friday nights to Sunday nights didn’t hurt, either. Their normal Friday night program was thus easier for me to catch, and that, in addition to watching more of their Saturday afternoon Couch Potato Theater show, really helped get me on board the BC & LJ train. I still didn’t tape Chuck & John as much as I did those other shows, but at least I “got it.” After ’98 or so, I began, as a rule, recording their entire broadcasts, from start to finish.

(For those unawares, and I have picked up some new readers/followers lately, especially after my trendsetting performance at Monsterfestmania, that’s “Lil’ John” Rinaldi on the left, “Big Chuck” Schodowski on the right. Read more about ’em here if necessary, or just keep going with this post; you’ll probably get the gist of all this in short order.)

So, First Blood on the show. Why play such an obvious non-horror or sci-fi film, when Chuck & John are widely considered legit horror hosts?

They did (but not always) run ‘regular’ flicks in the years before, but by the mid-1990s, the film selections became much more ‘standardized.’ That is, all genres were represented. Sure, there could be a typical horror or sci-fi oldie (I taped more than one Toho opus off the program during the period), but there were also comedies, dramas, westerns, and as we’re seeing today, action films.

Some fans tend to decry the usage of ‘general’ films during this later era of The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show. I understand that sentiment, but even when ignoring the changing television landscape of the time, I’d argue that since Chuck & John didn’t dress or act “spooky,” and their comedy was broader and generally not tied to a horror theme, the overall product still came out successful. Granted, I’m coming from a different place than others, but nevertheless, horror/sci-fi or not, the ‘new’ show certainly introduced me to films I might not have seen otherwise.

First Blood I probably would have wound up catching sooner or later anyway, but this broadcast hit me at just the right time. Due to my burgeoning interest in the genre, I often stayed up late on weekends and caught new-to-me action movies on local channels. One Man’s Justice and Army of One were introduced to me that way. Even beyond TV airings, I was picking up used VHS tapes at a local indie video store (the Missing in Action films became personal favorites). And yet, before catching this airing of First Blood on Big Chuck & Lil’ John, Rambo was uncharted territory to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew who Rambo was, or at least had a vague idea of the character. And I had caught bits and pieces of the films earlier in the decade (on cable TV, when movies like this seemed to always be on). But up until May 2001, I had never actually seen an entry in the series.

Truth be told, it took me a bit to get into it. My vague knowledge of Rambo was that of a mercenary, a legit one-man-army, going into a foreign country, rescuing hostages of some sort, and blowing away a lot of bad guys. First Blood isn’t quite that, and at the start of this initial viewing, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first.

But sure enough, I was soon absolutely drawn into the film, just completely and totally enthralled by it. I wound up loving the movie, and from that point on, I was a Rambo fan. I remember the morning after this aired, we were at some gymnastics thing for my little cousin, and all I could think of was getting the trilogy (there was a swanky widescreen VHS boxset out then). I wanted to see more of these, man!

Eventually, of course, I did. Indeed, not too long after this aired, I went and bought a ‘legit’ VHS copy of the film from the aforementioned indie video store. In the years since, I’ve obtained First Blood in a variety of formats and releases, but truth be told, none mean as much to me as this personal recording I made back in the Spring of ’01 does.

I find it hard to believe that anyone stumbling upon this post hasn’t seen First Blood. The first entry in the Rambo series, and (as far as I’m concerned) legitimate action classic? C’mon! I mean, having not seen it by the time I was 15, there’s not much excuse there, but there’s even less now; the movie-viewing world was a bit different 15 years ago, but there are countless ways to catch this one nowadays.

I’m not gonna go too in-depth here, because if you haven’t seen it yet, go see it!Anyway, First Blood details the plight of John Rambo, a Vietnam Vet who runs into trouble with the police of a small town and must fend for himself. The End!

…Well, I guess I can go a bit more in-depth than that. Here’s the set-up: as the film opens, Rambo is seen visiting the home of one of his old army buddies and learning that he has passed away. This leaves Rambo as the last surviving member of his Special Forces Unit from ‘Nam. Already suffering with the memories of the war, this news puts him into an emotional tailspin, and he winds up a drifter.

Eventually, he finds him self in Hope, Washington. Almost immediately, he’s hassled by Sheriff Will Teasle (it’s Brian Dennehy!), who concludes that, based on his looks, Rambo isn’t the kind of element the people need in their nice, quite little town. Although he puts on a (somewhat) friendly facade, he drives Rambo outside of the city and tells him to find somewhere else to go. Rambo, being the the definitive badass, of course turns around and heads right back in. When Teasle sees this, he arrests ‘Bo for vagrancy. (The big giant knife Rambo carries around doesn’t help, either.)

Teasle’s a jerk, but his fellow officers, Deputy Art Galt in particular, are worse. When they try to book Rambo in at the police station, and it becomes increasingly obvious that Rambo is emotionally disturbed, they begin abusing him. Beating him, spraying him with a fire hose in the shower, and the final straw, attempting to shave him with a straight-razor. Y’see, Rambo wasn’t just in ‘Nam, he was a POW, and the abuse triggers flashbacks of his imprisonment there. On top of everything else he’s had to deal with since then, this is just too much, and in short order he busts out of the station and escapes into the woods.

(Note: Michael “Stan Switek” Talbott and David “CSI: Miami Guy” Caruso play young police officers in the flick, too.)

Naturally, Teasle is none too pleased with this development, and of course a search party is formed to recover the prisoner. Being an expert in such situations, Rambo is able to elude them, though eventually Galt shows up in a helicopter and gets him in his sights. Despite Teasle’s order that Rambo be taken alive, Galt begins firing at him. Not having much other recourse, Rambo wings a rock at the chopper, which cracks the windshield and surprises the pilot, who then jerks the chopper – causing Galt to fall his to death. Suddenly, this isn’t just a manhunt anymore; this has become personal to Teasle.

From there on out, it is on. But they drew first blood (get it?), and it’s up to Rambo to fend for himself. Well, he’s not quite alone; Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna!), hearing reports of what’s going on, shows up in town, and essentially keeps telling Teasle there’s no chance of the cops getting Rambo. Trautman oughta know, too; he was Rambo’s commanding officer in ‘Nam (“God didn’t make Rambo; *I*made him!”) and fully understands what Rambo is capable of. Of course Teasle doesn’t listen. Massive amounts of destruction and general badassery ensues.

As I recall it, much of my initial apprehension upon viewing this film had little to do with the movie itself, and more to do with the fact that it didn’t quite fit my preconceived notions of what a Rambo flick was supposed to be. That is, a one-man-army heading into a foreign country and basically taking the whole place out for one reason or another. That was the prevailing image I had of Rambo, anyway. What I didn’t know was that that viewpoint was more in line with the sequels; this first installment was a bit of a different animal.

Except when it wasn’t. After all, First Blood still has Rambo pretty much by himself and fending off and/or evading large numbers of people after him. He is a one-man-army here, and he does do the things that I expected him to do. It’s just that in First Blood, this is all in a more domestic setting, and that’s what threw me at first. A large portion of the film is set in the woods outside of fictional Hope, Washington, which was in opposition to my initial thoughts of “Shouldn’t this be set in a jungle somewhere?” The more I watched the film, the more I realized that, no, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but what I got was just as, if not more, fantastic. Like I said before, by the time it had ended, I was a bonafide fan.

The entire movie is terrific, and the final portion of the film, in which Rambo makes his way back to the city and just totally tears things up, is particularly so. He blows up a gas station! He knocks out the power! He gets himself a big ol’ gun! All in an effort to draw Teasle out for a final confrontation…

…A confrontation that results in the most powerful moment of the entire film: just as Rambo is about to finish off Teasle once and for all, Trautman stops him, and what follows is a heavily dramatic monologue by Stallone. In it, his Rambo laments his status in the US following the war, how he’s been treated, his usefulness to society, and how the horrors of the war still haunt him. It’s a fantastic, moving monologue, the most emotional moment of the movie.

The monologue also brings out to the open a dramatic undercurrent that runs through the rest of the film: the plight of the Vietnam Veteran in the years following the war. As such, First Blood manages to include a somber, social commentary on Vets that the sequels increasingly ignored. Regardless of what anyone thinks about war, the way our Veterans are often treated is a sore spot with me, which means that, personally, this dramatic monologue really hits home.

First Blood is action-packed, make no mistake. There are chases, fights, explosions, gunfire, near misses and escapes. It’s at certain points unflinchingly brutal, especially near the beginning when Rambo is in police custody. The movie earns the R-rating given to it. But paradoxically, and contrary to popular opinion (myself at 15 included), it’s not actually that violent. Not as far as deaths are concerned, anyway. Indeed, only one person is actually killed throughout the entire film: Galt, and that was both an accident on Rambo’s part and due to Galt himself being a dumbass. (I mean, yes, Rambo tossed a rock at the chopper, but Galt was hanging out of the side without a harness of any kind!) Everyone else, Rambo stops but doesn’t kill. The high-body counts generally associated with Rambo films? Those fit the sequels, but not First Blood.

As such, the version seen on Big Chuck & Lil’ John that night in May 2001, sure there was some editing for content, and time, and naturally some salty language was censored, but unlike a lot of R-rated films that wound up on local TV, First Blood didn’t suffer too badly. Indeed, as long as you didn’t mind Chuck & John occasionally interrupting the proceedings with their silliness, this was actually a pretty good example of First Blood.

And speaking of Big Chuck & Lil’ John, it’s time for their portion of the show. This won’t be everything they did that night, but here are some of the personal highlights…

The show as a whole kicks off with this introductory skit, in lieu of an opening sequence or any similar such fanfare. In it, Bill Ward (I’ve met him before!) plays the Cleveland Indians’ new pitcher Billy Bob, who just rolled in from North Carolina. He apparently loves Cleveland and especially The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show, which he proclaims to be wholesome, clean, family entertainment – all while progressively throwing more chewing tobacco in his mouth and letting the juice run down his chin when he spits! Gross? Maybe. Is there much to the bit? Not really. Is it funny? Yep!

That leads directly into the first host segment of the night, which, needless to say, introduced the movie, mentioned some of the things Chuck & John had planned for the evening (the US mail carriers were there for the episode; we’ll see them in a bit), and so on. Not a particularly long intro, but there was no need for it to be; this got the night kicked off proper, and frankly, just having Chuck & John intro the movie was enough. Even though they’re back on the air nowadays (as a 30 minute, skits-only program), there was something really special about them actually hosting a film. It’s a sight for sore eyes, absolutely.

For any non-Northeast Ohioans reading this, you may wonder how a couple of hosts presenting silly skits between commercial-breaks of First Blood can really work as entertainment. It doesn’t, on paper, sound like it would ‘fit.’ To be honest with you, I don’t know why it works either, just that it does. Maybe you have to be a Northeast Ohioan of a certain age to appreciate this sort of thing. Maybe it’s a format that couldn’t really work (with the vast majority of viewers) today. Perhaps that 30 minute skits-only show is the best we can hope for in this day and age, where genuine local TV is at a minimum.

All I know is that, more than once, I was introduced to movies in this “format” that, for all intents and purposes, worked. This is how I first saw Theatre of Blood, this is how I first saw Miracle Mile, and obviously, this is how I first saw First Blood.

I hope Big Chuck & Lil’ John never go away.

(Also, isn’t that screencap above just awesome? I couldn’t not post it. ‘Course, this probably means it’ll be stolen and passed around the internet without mentioning where it originally came from, because why would anyone give me credit for anything ever?)

Next up, another installment in the long-running series of “Certain Ethnic” skits. “Certain Ethnic” was a euphemism for “Polish,” a running joke that reached back to the Ghoulardi days. Chuck himself is Polish, and the mocking was always done affectionately, but still, people complained, and so “Polish” became “Certain Ethnic.”

In this one, it’s the “Certain Ethnic Jaccuzzi [sic].” After a long day of work, Chuck’s famous Stash character just wants to relax, and a nice jacuzzi is the way to unwind. For this scenario, this is accomplished by running the garden hose through the window and into the tub!

Trivia time!

There were usually at least two trivia contests held per show. Another one of the benefits of having a live studio audience, I guess. Even then, I was all about vintage television and movies, and more often than not, I knew the answers. Much to my chagrin, I was never able to attend a studio taping to show off my trivial (and I do mean trivial) prowess. This hurts me deep.

There were three trivia segments for this episode. For this first one, the prize was a 4-pack of tickets to the Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. The question? What television series was Richard Crenna a part of loooong before he became known as Rambo’s Colonel Trautman? Why, The Real McCoys, of course! I knew that!!! I win/lose again!

Ah, Ben Crazy. Did anyone not like the Ben Crazy skits? That would hurt me deep, too.

This one features Cleveland/television legend Tim Conway himself, as Dr. Crazy’s patient. The skit mostly works as a vehicle for Conway’s deadpan, jokey delivery (he was in the office earlier because he got his Ben-Gay and Preparation H mixed up – his shoulder was starting to shrink!). The punchline: he misunderstood what Dr. Crazy meant when he said he wanted a stool sample! (Above, duh.)

More trivia.

This time, the prize was the then-new book 365 Ways to Meet People in Cleveland, by Miriam Carey (looks like it’s out of print now). The question: what was Rambo’s first name? Aw c’mon!That’s so easy it’s not even fair! Had fate smiled upon me, I could be sitting here admiring my little book right this instant.

(By the way, the answer was “John.” John Rambo. Geez, even if someone somehow didn’t know that, they could have just taken a wild guess; there’s like a 95% chance they would have said “John” anyway.)

Saturday, May 12th (the next day, for those keeping track at home) was “Help Stamp Out Hunger Day,” courtesy of the US Postal Service. I remember those food drives; basically, you would place a bag of non-perishable food by your mail box on the appropriate day, and the mailperson would collect it to help replenish local food banks. So, the night before the event, the appropriate people went on The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show to explain all this. See how that works?

A joke is made in which Lil’ John apparently left a half-plate of uneaten spaghetti and meatballs by the mailbox the year before (it’s gotta be non-perishable, folks!), and both Chuck and John are presented with commemorative plaques as a thank you for all their help with the drive over the years. A nice moment.

Ajax Airlines!

The Ajax skits went waaaay back on the show. They were basically just miming bits from old Hudson & Landry records, but man, they were always a riot. This was a newer installment in the series (on the show I mean, not the records themselves), in which a very drunk person (Art Lofredo) calls the airline to find out when the next plane leaves. It’s a very funny bit, though the pay-off is a bit dated: they’ve got to hold the plane, because Art is the pilot!

Last trivia question of the night.

The prize was a “Zube Tube,” which made lots of weird electronic-like noises and gave your voice a cool booming quality when you spoke into it. I want to say my brother and/or I had something like this, but I don’t know. It’s a neat product though, and it’s basically given away. The question relates to Rambo’s status as a Green Beret and the John Wayne movie that dealt with the same subject. The answer: The Green Berets.

‘Course, it would’ve been a hard one to miss, since the words “Green Berets” are said about a thousand times leading up to the answer. I’m pretty sure my recording is just retroactively mocking me now.

A simple-but-great skit. When John and his wife (Mary Allen!) are denied admittance to a restaurant because John isn’t wearing a necktie, he leaves and later comes back wearing nothing but a necktie (one large enough to cover his, erm, lower extremities, naturally), much to the shock of the maitre d’ and the other patrons of the restaurant.

Another classic. Chuck is the manager of a Hallmark store, and John wants to return a “Get Well” card. Why? The guy died! Short, to the point, and very, very funny!

Unlike some of the other episodes we’ve looked at here, this was a later episode, in which the famous “Pajama Party” outro had been done away with; Pajama Party was the traditional closer in which Chuck and John (and before John, Hoolihan) closed out the show dressed in their PJs and reading submitted jokes. After looking at so many older broadcasts, it’s a little weird to see the segment absent here, even though this is the way I always saw the show closed out in my formative years.

Instead, this was just a standard outro, with reminders for the food drive the next day, the movie next week, goodnights and goodbyes, the expected stuff. In less than 12 hours, their Saturday afternoon Couch Potato Theater would start (earlier in the show, it was touted as “Abbott & Costello,” which almost certainly meant the 1950s sitcom – a show that was run fairly frequently on Couch Potato Theater).

Even so, there’s a real bittersweet feeling to watching the fellas sign off to the famous “Is That All There Is?” by Peggy Lee. Maybe it’s because I know now that Chuck & John wouldn’t be hosting movies for all that much longer; that sorta thing ended in 2007, when Chuck “retired.” But then, it’s wild to realize that in just a little over 10 years after this aired, they’d be back, with the current, aforementioned skits-only show.

No kidding, I hope these guys never go away again.

Chuck & John that night ran 2 hours and 18 minutes. Since this was a 2 hour and 30 minute timeslot, it stands to reason there was some filler at the end. On that front, WJW presented 1933’s Polly Tix in Washington, a bizarre short comedy featuring little kids in the roles of adult politicians. Shirley Temple is featured in some capacity. It’s pretty weird, it hasn’t aged particularly well, and it’s about as far away from First Blood as possible. Maybe that was the point. Either way, I think I hate it. It’s not funny or cute, just strange.

While not part of the actual episode (the show officially ended immediately before this), this was a surprising bit of filler. Finishing up a slot with old short comedies was more of a WAOH/WAX thing to do – I never expected WJW to pull something like that. I don’t know, maybe it was more common than I realize(d). All I know is that back in the late hours of that Spring 2001 night, I was like “say what?”

So, commercial time. This is where I traditionally look at some of the more interesting ads aired during a respective broadcast. Unfortunately, this time around, 2001 is just a bit too new for my tastes. A lot of this stuff has aged well, meaning they wouldn’t be all that out-of-place on TV nowadays. Still, there were a few interesting spots for us to look at. (And despite the 15 years elapsed since they aired, I actually do recall some of these as if they aired just yesterday.)

WJW TV-8 Stamp Out Hunger Ad

If they were pushing the food drive on The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show, it stands to reason there’d be commercials for it, too. Needless to say, that’s exactly what this, with anchorman Wayne Dawson, congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and a mail carrier (I guess) giving us all the details I, uh, already described earlier.

Labatt Blue Beer “Bear at the Party” Ad

Not too long ago, I found another spot from this series of ads on a tape, and even though I hadn’t even thought about these commercials in years, I was able to recall the ad far better than I would have anticipated.

The gist of these was that an anthropomorphic Canadian bear (really just a guy in a bear suit – duh!) pitched Labatt Blue beer wherever he went, and got into semi-wacky situations because he’s, you know, a bear. In this installment, he’s brought to a party by a mega-hot chick, and then does awkward things…because he’s a bear. He does the “raise the roof” gesture, he sees a tank of goldfish and believes they’re hors d’oeuvres, he waits in line for the bathroom. This is all ostensibly to sell Labatt Blue, which I guess worked, because this campaign was around for decent length of time.

KFC’s Extra-Crispy Chicken Deal Ad

Kentucky Fried Chicken didn’t always need George Hamilton to waltz around a set dressed as the Colonel in order to sell their extra-crispy fried chicken parts. Nope, back in 2001, all they needed was a $2.99 deal and shots of people noisily crunchin’ on the things as obnoxiously as possible. Then again, the spot does makes me want some KFC, so I guess it’s still doing the job 15 years later.

The theme of this spot is that without a cellular phone, you feel ‘chained down.’ This is demonstrated by a hapless lady chained to various products while out and about during her day. Chained to her desk in the elevator, chained to a shopping cart while being a karate ninja, chained to a fax machine and washer/dryer while camping. You get the gist. The point is, you need not feel chained down when you have Alltel’s Kyocera cellular phone and appropriate calling plan. You know, cause it’s mobile.

Frankly, I just included this one here because, man, look at that cellphone! Just look at it! It’s unbelievable what was considered cutting edge technology as recently as 15 years ago! That’s not a knock, either; nope, I love it. What a fantastic example of the early-2000s!

Volk’s Mothers Day Sale Ad

I thought this was pretty cool. Looking at thousand-year-old videotapes of the local variety, you tend to see ads for Volk’s pretty often; they advertised on local late night TV for years. Apparently they’re still around, though I hear conflicting reports. I refuse to drive to Cleveland just to find out. Here’s the Yelp page, either way.

Anyway, it is (was?) a jewelry/pawn shop. You know, trade/sell, get cash, that sort of thing. For this ad, with Mothers Day coming up, the pitch is, hey, why not go get her a nice piece of jewelry for the occasion?

Rod Stewart Tour Promo

As this mega-brief promo touts, Rod Stewart was coming to town on his “Human Tour 2001.” Ostensibly this was to promote an album I’ve never heard. Sorry Rod, I would not have gone to this.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Deep Purple – Ted Nugent Tour Promo

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple and Ted Nugent were also gonna be in town that coming summer. I really would not have gone to this.

Basic Instinct on Big Chuck & Lil’ John Promo

And finally, next Friday on The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show, it was Basic Instinct. I have not seen Basic Instinct, but from what I know of it, I doubt it aired, editing-wise, as relatively unscathed as First Blood did. Or maybe it did. I don’t friggin’ know.

Though this brings up a point: there were always a lot of kids in the audience when they were taping these shows; were they also watching the movies as they went? Chuck & John seem to generally be following the action. I can’t see them setting up the cameras and hauling an audience in just to film the host segments. On the other hand, even with editing for television, a lot of these movies weren’t really suitable for kids. First Blood, sure, and especially Basic Instinct. I don’t friggin’ know.

And so, there you have it, the 1982 Sly Stallone classic First Blood, as aired on The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show, May 11, 2001. Leonard Maltin didn’t like the movie, but *I* sure did – enough so that I had the foresight to keep the recording. Not that I wouldn’t have anyway; as I’ve said over and over, it’s a great film.

But the sad fact of the matter is, I didn’t always have the foresight to keep these shows. Casino Royale and True Grit, both I recorded but later taped over. I wish I hadn’t done that now, but back then, I had to be a bit pickier on what I used to fill precious tape-space. After all, Big Chuck & Lil’ John had looong shows, especially on Friday night. I’ve said before that watching an entire episode felt like you had run a marathon or something by the time it was over, and First Blood is no different. It felt, and feels, less like a mere movie broadcast and more like an experience, an event, of some sort.

Beyond just being a really fun, entertaining recording, it’s also a reminder of where I was, movie-choice-wise, at the time. And, in the grand scheme of things, it has the feeling of waning days of innocence (which is a funny thing to say about First Blood, I know). We had that Spring, and Summer, but then, well, we all know how everything just went straight to hell that coming Fall. But in May 2001, that was unknowingly, thankfully still inconceivable to us. I was in 8th grade, just about to graduate, high school looming ominously ahead. That’s all I knew then, that I had high school coming up.

In that regard, it’s a terrific snapshot of the time, when all I had to worry about was what I was gonna watch that weekend. And for that weekend, I’m convinced there was no better way to kick things off than with First Blood as presented on The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show.